Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1887-09-03
PEGGY.


hero and heroine, or it would not be
worth the telling" replied Captain Ned.
| am the former, and the latter was-and
| hope still is-a cat
The once upon 4 time was when /
was just fifteen years old, and had fool
ishly resolved to run away from home,
board. whaler and sail for the Arctic
seas.
My home was in the backwoods of
Maine. l had the kindest and most de-
voted parents, but willful fellow that I
was, ] thought that knew what was the
best for myself, and therefore had deter
mined to be another Jack Halyard.'
Il had heard accounts of the almost
certain fortune there was in the head of
single whale, and believing, in my ignor-
ance, that | could harpoon one myself
about as readily as my father could shoot
deer, l nursed the growing idea that |
could make mint Of money in a single
voyage, and thus give n grand surprise to
my little world at home. | think / really
loved every domestic animal on our place,
except the eats. Up to that period | never
remember TO have stroked or petted one.
| thought them all, like tigers, treacher-
Gus, cruel and stupid, and of no account
whatever but to catch and torture mice
My only sister, Margaret, much younger
than |, had, few weeks before the begin
ming Of my story, found and brought home
little puny, gray kitten, that | mali
ciously nicknamed Peggy, to tease her. l
saved 1t, on one occasion, from the jaws OF
/, strange dog, for Maggie's sake, for |
knew she petted the ugly little thing, but
beyond that had never shown il any notice
or favor.
Well, all my arrangements for running
away from home were completed. | had
bribed an old stage driver-who, three
times a week, passed in his stage within
half q mile Of my fathers house-to wait
for me at a certain hour of q certain even
ing. 1t was raining hard when l slipped
out Of the house after supper under pre-
tense of going to the barn after my Ratchet,
and with little bundle which | had hid
den beneath the wood-pile, ! ran across a
muddy stubble field to make the short
cut to the county road.
Although | was in a great state of ex-
NAsSAiiSlAS Eth. ntdIu uASllItiiF lHe
mewing of q cat through the noise of the
wind and rain, and it seemed to follow me-
] looked back once, but in the clouded twi-
light ] could discover nothing
The stage was awaiting me, with only
one passenger III tan old woman who
did not know me.
80 Jump inside, said the driver, 4 guess
you're soakin' wet. Let the poor puss in.
too; she follered you for good luck ; and
70 my amazement, just before the stage
door banged to, in leaped my sisters
Peggy and crouched at my feet. The old
woman soon went to sleep; then stopped
and lifted the poor, little, wet, shivering
creature into my arms. She cuddled up
TO my breast As though / was her best
friend, and somehow then, for the first
time, | began to realize the wrong | had
done in running away from my good home
like u thief, even though | hoped and ex-
pected to bring back thousands of dollars
to the dear ones in ii.
at was past midnight when we reached
the coast village, near which was anchored
the whaler / hoped to board, and | had
resolved that when the stage stopped i
would give Peggy an opportunity to go
wherever she wanted, and if she turned
in the direction Of home I'd follow her.
| was a little superstitious, YOU see."
mo, uncle" quickly said Carl, Il
think You trusted to the good sense of the
eat"
anyway" continued the Captain,
when l slept in my bunk for the first
time aboard ship. Peggy deliberately
curled herself up on my pillow and began
to purr as though she thought the pleas
ATTEST thing that cat can do was to take
a voyage TO the North Pole"
But didn't your sister Maggie and
your father and mother" began
Hubert.
"Now, Hubie no switching off on
side-track in this story. The cat is the
heroine. We had mixed crew, but the
majority were Americans. Our whale
field was somewhere on the southeastern
coast of Greenland, and our route to it lay
through the Straits of Belle Isle. We
were long time in reaching the straits.
The winds were adverse; the first mate.
whom l liked best of all on board, and to
whom | owed my situation, fell danger
ousiy i'll my duties az cabin boy became
very irksome we saw no whales, and I
believe"
Didn't you wish You had staid home,
sirT said Jack. IL know you did"
Hold up, Jack. Remember this story is
about a cat, not naughty, foolish boy. |
was saying, when you interrupted me, that
believe l would have died from home
sickness but for Peggy, who, think, was
born TO be a sailor, and bold, brave one at
that She used to climb the shrouds, sit
upon the boom, and yawn among the rig
ging. Her fur became longer and more
beautiful daily, and her eyes, which were
as clear as the bright stars in that latitude.
seemed almost to have laugh in them.
Indeed they grew TO be lovely dark-blue in
color, just like my sister Margaret's, and
often, when l would stroke her warm, silky
ears, would plan how, when | got nv
fortune, | would hang diamond or pearl
in each little eor, clasp pair of similar
bracelets around her neck and give her /
back in triumph to her young mistress.
She was the pst and plaything of all
the crew. from Captain Abbott down TO
me, and 20 yell fed upon It'd DTS tia. she